Event to mark HMS Antrim's narrow escape

AN event is set to be held to commemorate HMS Antrim, the sailors who served on her, and the role she played in the Falklands Conflict on the 45th anniversary of her bombing during the conflict.

A meeting of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Community Development was due to be reminded this week that HMS Antrim was a County-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy launched on 19 October 1967. In the Falklands War, she was the flagship for the recovery of South Georgia, participating in the first anti-submarine operation conducted by helicopters. On 21 May 1982 in Falkland Sound, several bombs narrowly missed the Antrim, and a 1,000 lb bomb passed through her missile magazine without detonating, eventually lodging in the aft heads.

HMS Antrim was decommissioned in 1984, and the ship’s bell was presented to Antrim Council for safe keeping under the strict proviso that should a future ship in the fleet be named HMS Antrim, it would be recalled into active service. The bell is currently on display in the Garden Heritage Room of Clotworthy House in Antrim Castle Gardens.

A report before the committee said: “Officers have been approached by a group representing surviving members of the HMS Antrim crew, with a proposal that a commemorative event is held in Antrim Town on the 45th anniversary of the ship’s bombing during the Falklands Conflict.

“Having consulted the council’s Veteran’s Champion, it is proposed that an evening event is held at the Old Courthouse Theatre on 21 May 2027 during which former servicemen will talk about the conflict and their lived experience of life on board the Antrim. It is proposed that the event is free of charge with donations to veterans’ charities, and it is hoped that the event will appeal to Royal British Legion branches as well as the general public. In addition, officers will work with the retired servicemen from HMS Antrim and with local schools to offer assembly talks on the same day about the Falklands Conflict.

“The cost of staffing this event would be £296.”

It is being recommended that the proposal to hold an event at the Old Courthouse Theatre on 21 May 2027 commemorating the role played by HMS Antrim in the Falklands Conflict be approved.